Headbands Save Sanity: or how to grow out short hair

After years, and I do mean years, I have figured out how to survive the transition from very short hair to longer locks. My solution is no breakthrough technique but instead my return to my childhood method – a headband. Short hair has been a no-brainer for me because there is zero fuss; just wash and I’m done. No gelling, no curling iron, no combing. Wash and go. Nothing, in my book, could be simpler.

But then came the not-quite-right cut that convinced me to try once again to endure the growing-out process. I’m sure most know what I’m talking about: bangs that won’t stay out of your face, crazy layers that go every which way and just that appearance of yuck in general. Enter the headband.

I started making headbands to sell at the Brunswick Winter Market after talking to a woman who told me they are an easy seller. Sounded like a good idea to me so I began making the reversible fabric miracle workers. I tried on one of my creations and decided I could live with this look. The timing of making headbands and my frustrating haircut was perfect; I could now virtually erase my longer locks from my consciousness by sweeping them out of the way.

Many months into the process I am still weirded out by the feel of all that hair on my head but am sticking with it to see what happens next. I have no idea where I am going with all this hair or what I want to do with it. Never having been one to fuss with hair since leaving behind my high school ritual of sleeping in curlers every night, I wonder if long hair will ultimately become too much trouble for my no-fuss preferences.

Time will tell.